Rules for the Next Great Adventure
by Varan Nightshade
Summary: With Voldemort gone, Harry tries to look to the future, but the shadows of the past continue to hold him back. Making one final choice he decides he's ready for the next great adventure, but there are some rules involved no one mentioned before.
1. Chapter 1: Alone

**Title:** Rules for the Next Great Adventure

**Ship:** H/Hr – Harmony Bond, Others to be determined during progress

**Rating:** M – Mature

**Warnings:** Mature Language, Suggested Adult Situations, Possible Lemons

**Key:** "Speech" – 'Thought' – **"Magic Laden Speech"** - §Parseltongue§

**Synopsis:** With Voldemort gone, Harry tries to look to the future, but the shadows of the past continue to hold him back. Making one final choice he decides he's ready for the next great adventure, but there are some rules involved no one mentioned before.  
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**Disclaimer**: I don't own Harry Potter, Miss Rowling, Warner Bros. and the book publishers around the world do. I own the original characters and their stories. Any similarity to established works is purely because my warped mind liked the idea, but since I'm not making any money off this I mean no disrespect to the owners of the ideas and apologize in advance for using them rather than taking forever to come up with my own.  
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**Author's Note (AN):** Yes I know this type of fic has been done countless times, and its gonna look pretty similar to some of them. This is my first fic so I'm gonna write what I know and what I like. Reviews are more than welcome, flames will be read, and somewhat considered, but don't expect me to stop writing just because you think I'm not being original enough. Anyway, here we go.  
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**Chapter ONE - **Alone

Alone.

One of the few words that truly sounds exactly what it means. Looking out on the world around him, the silence deafening. The circumstances that brought him to this point echoed through his mind in an unending opposite to the world left to him. Limping, he makes his way to the shower, going through the motions he knows are normal. Normal is something long left behind. His fingers brush the picture on the nightstand, three friends smiling and waving to the person taking the picture, a frozen moment from a happier time.

Harry made his way through Grimmauld Place without seeing the house around him; even though he owned it he would never call it home. Every unused surface caked in dust, were Molly to see the state of the place, she would raise her own army to take care of Harry. Kreacher was released by Harry after the battle because of the adoration toward him from the surviving house elves of the school. Then the fact Dobby was gone, Harry had returned to Shell Cottage to make the grave more permanent. Bill and Fleur had invited him to stay for a time, but watching them beginning to get their lives in order; especially learning that Fleur was pregnant, made Harry's plight even more painful. While several Hogwarts elves asked to take Kreacher's place, he denied them all with the explanation that they were needed more at the school.

Making a simple breakfast of toast and pumpkin juice he sat at the counter, the Prophet laying unopened beside him, almost mocking The-Boy-Who-Conquered with its headlines crowing the end of Voldemort, the end of the war, and hope for the future; hope Harry couldn't bring himself to feel. It's been that way for almost two months, everyone moving ahead but him, everyone giving lip service of their care for their savior, but no one actually acting on that care. Sipping his coffee he tried to comprehend his future, but admitting he had one seemed monumentally impossible.

Closing his eyes all he can see is the death and destruction, "the greater good" not sounding as great now that it's all over. Friends lost to death, and more lost to the same soul rending grief he feels with every breath, wondering why he lived when so many that shouldn't have been involved died. Finishing his breakfast, harry clears his dishes, putting them away before walking to his office, walls covered in medals, awards and boons given by many; most of whom he had no idea their lands existed as anything more than dots on a map. Surrounding those awards were stacks of unopened mail, fan mail from people thanking him for doing something he had no choice but to do, or letters of grief from those that believed had he acted sooner their loved ones would still be alive. The countless howlers these people chose to send had long since exploded, the unbreakable charmed garbage can Harry conjured for them still stained black from their ash.

Sitting at the desk with a sigh unlocking a drawer he hasn't opened in months, since the day after the final battle, when he couldn't take looking at the destroyed Hogwarts any longer, the last and most prevalent perceived failure in his mind not a building, but another body staring back at him as though to say he failed it as well. Harry Potter looked around the room, not for the first time wishing he still had the resurrection stone so he could talk to those that might understand what he was thinking.

Ginny had left him, after getting a training contract with the Holyhead Harpies. Harry had told her to go, follow her dreams like he hadn't been able to. Ron went to work with George, he and Hermione "taking a break" after another row over her want to find her parents, Ron's loyalty to family apparently stronger than his love for Hermione; the family he should have been considering for himself and her. Hearing about that was harder on Harry than Ginny leaving. He considered going with her to find her parent, but she would have had enough trouble in the wizarding world as a war hero herself without Harry getting a spotlight thrown on them just by being beside her. The love he felt for his first true friend drove him to choose to keep his distance, not only in the trek to find her parents, but in her troubled relationship with Ron.

Taking an envelope from the drawer and setting it in front of him, he closes his eyes, leaning back in the chair, worn as though a man ten times his age. The fight is over but the weight on his soul remains. "I'm so sorry everyone; I just want to go home, let the pain end. I wouldn't blame you for hating me, I kinda hate myself for this, but please don't." His voice echoes in the office as he picks up his wand, resting the tip upon his temple as the last words of Harry Potter are spoken for no one other than himself, "The freakishness is gone. Avada Kedvara." As the green flash fades, the lights of Grimmauld Place ironically faded to black, almost as though knowing that no one would set foot in the house again, the last secret keeper gone and becoming the final resting place and forgotten tomb of not the Boy-Who- Lived, but the Boy - Who – Lacked - Love.


	2. Chapter 2: Rights, Regrets, and Rules

**Key:** "Speech" – 'Thought' – **"Magic Laden Speech"** - §Parseltongue§

**Disclaimer**: Not mine. Props given to all who need it in Chapter One. Warnings are posted there as well.

**AN:** I realize in chapter one I said I welcomed reviews, even the critical ones, but as I also stated this is my FIRST FIC. I've read Dick and Jane, I've read Tolkien, I'm aiming for somewhere in the low middle until I get some experience, bear with me while I learn.  
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**Chapter TWO:** Rights, Regrets, and Rules

When Harry awoke, he was both thankful and annoyed. He found himself in the phantom Kings Cross again, everything as solid gleaming white as it was before but once again he was alone. Getting up slowly he was pleased to notice the aches and pains he had been suffering were gone. Wandering slowly he walks to the tracks, looking both ways to see if the train Dumbledore mentioned was coming. Looking under the bench with a sardonic smile he settled on it, elbows on his knees, chin in his hands, trying to figure out what now. "I was sure that if I was certain I was done with my life I wouldn't have ended up here again. At least someone cleaned up the mess." He remembered the squalling soul fragment of Voldemort that had traveled here with him last time, idly wondering how it could have possibly gotten onto the train to leave this place.

A female voice behind him made him jump. "It didn't Mr. Potter; it was tossed out with the rest of him when it arrived. We have a lot to discuss, come with me." She was a little taller than him, looking like a cross between Bellatrix Lestrange and Rita Skeeter, wearing a deep blood red three piece suit most would consider a male's cut though harry couldn't help but think in the back of his mind that she looked quite fetching. She lead him down the platform until it shimmered around them becoming an office, sitting behind the large desk glaring at him while he sat across from her and suddenly all he could think about was the several times he was stared down by McGonagall with Ron and Hermione.

"Do you have any idea how much trouble you've caused this department Mr. Potter? My name is Seraphim and I am your fate manager. This is the 23rd time I've had you in that chair and you _still_ haven't gotten to the end of your thread. If we don't straighten this out I'm going to be demoted to demon wrangler for the next several millennia while you're left with whatever you have and literally to hell with your final destiny." Harry simply stared at her gobsmacked, several things surprising him. 'Fate manager? 23 times? Wait, final...' his thoughts were spinning faster than a professional quidditch game. "I'm sorry but what do you mean 'final destiny'?" She pinches the bridge of her nose, leaning back in the chair with a sigh. "Mr. Potter, Harry, do you honestly believe that after everything you went through there wouldn't be some sort of reward for putting up with the bullshit? It can be traced back to _one_ simple thing; you spent your entire life ignoring your soul mate! All you had to do was kiss Hermione Granger and everything would have fallen into place instead of needing you to wail on it with a hammer to force it. Yes you would have lost your parents, yes you would have been tortured by the Dursleys, but she was given to you as the key to lock that hell behind you and start anew"

Harry couldn't help but do a Quirrell impression, stuttering as though he forgot how to work his tongue, "H-Her-Hermione? But I never..." "EXACTLY, you never. The weasel did what he had to do in pissing her off that first Halloween; you risked your life to save her and gained a friend that _never left your side_. You had to order her back to Ron to go get that whiskered manipulative bastard, second year her timing sucked yet the girl that equates books with deities tore the page from one after _writing_ on it. Third year had her sharing that Time Turner you weren't even supposed to know about to not only save Buckbeak and Sirius, but your own lives. I won't list them all, but you know as well as I do that every time you've set yourself to walk into a trap, she's right there ready to get caught with you."

There's a knock at the door and before the woman can say anything it bursts open and a blur of red hair flies right to Harry and he's crushed in a hug that makes Hermione's look like a handshake. "Oh my sweetheart, I missed you so much." Harry feels lips pressed to his forehead and a warmth surrounds him with an, ironic if you think about it, ghost of a memory. He jerked in their arms in realization. "Mom?" She releases the hug, her hands on his shoulders as she steps back, matching emerald eyes both shining with unshed tears, Harry realizing the number of times he looked in a mirror feeling his worst and imagining his eyes in another face smiling back at him telling him everything would be alright.

"Hate to ruin the moment, but I want a hug too Prongslet." Harry's head whipped around to see his father casually leaning against the doorjamb with a smirk on his face. "Back again, what is it, 21st? 22nd?" The woman clears her throat, glaring daggers at James for ruining Harry and Lilly's moment. "23rd James." "Way to go Prongslet, you beat me and Sirius's records." He grins at her, "Just how much crap are you in Sera?" "Too much, sadly your son is as thick as you are." Harry couldn't help but grin at the small snort of amusement from his mother with James's wounded expression.

Harry walked over to James and pulled him into a hug. "Hi Dad." Just like being held by his mother, feeling James's arms wrap around him brought back those half memories that supported him all those years, the memories of a happy one year old boy. Harry remembered the little things, learning to ride a training broom before he could even walk more than a few steps without falling on his bum, the comfort he got from being tucked in and told bedtime stories at nap time and at night, his parents voices lulling him to sleep...until James thought adding sound effects would be a good idea which only wound the precocious child right back up again. As these memories swirled in his head, Harry seemed to finally find the peace he had been looking for, he was HOME.

Seraphim couldn't help it, she sighed loudly. "Dammit James, you're making this harder than it has to be, I brought him here for a reason." James smiled at her and transfigured the chair in front of the desk into a pink polka dotted white leather couch that clashed with the rest of the office so obscenely that it likely caused disturbances in other dimensions let alone other offices. The three Potters sat on the couch, Harry between his parents while they both cuddled him. Harry looked to her and the million galleon question was finally asked, "Why am I here exactly?"

Sera couldn't help but smile a little, 'about time someone showed signs of inheriting _anything_ from his mother. "Well Harry, it's been decided you get one last shot at the life we had planned out for you. As I said, this is your last and best chance at getting it." He looked at his parents, unsure of this statement because in his heart he finally got what he wanted, he's with his parents again. Lilly took his hand in her and smiles sadly. "I know this is where you want to be, but if you can make not only your life but the world better by taking this offer, isn't that the better choice sweetheart? Just like before we won't leave you and we'll still be here when you are supposed to get here." He leaned on her shoulder, lost in thought over her words and even though he didn't want to he could see the logic in what she said. James grinned and ruffled his hair. "You're definitely a Potter son, you hooked yourself an extremely bright and cute muggleborn witch. I've talked to Padfoot, Moony and Tonks, Fred too, we all agree that everyone dies when it's their time, and have a right to choose that time, but we want _you_ to be happy with the decision." Harry nodded and looked to Sera, "I'd like to hear your plan for me before I decide ma'am."

Sera leaned back thoughtfully and admired the strength of this young man. 'That willpower is what got him thought his first destiny and if we can get it focused right this time, there might actually be a happy ending to this story.' "Ok Harry, I'm glad you're still open to all this, many in your place tell me to forget it and walk out of here with their loved ones. The short form is this; we're willing to send you back to when this first started, with all your memories and practical knowledge intact. This won't be a perfect do over because there will be minor differences from what you remember from your last time through. The key to all this isn't to actively use your memories, but let things flow as they will with little nudges to straighten them out to where you need them. One key thing we insist on though, do NOT blindly trust Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. He's not another dark lord, but he sure as hell isn't the leader the Light needs, that's _you._ Yes Harry, your path has been drawn so that you can bring not only peace but _reality_ to Wizarding Britain."

Once again Harry was gobsmacked, this time hard enough to leave a figurative bruise on his cheek. "M-M-Me? I'm no leader." James hugged Harry's shoulders, "Like hell Prongslet, we watched you while you were at Hogwarts. You were more a protector to the students than the teachers could have ever hoped to be, your mother and I were so proud when you started Dumbledore's Army, dumb name by the way, basically painted a target on Albus's back as well as your own, try for something different this time when you get there." Lilly kissed his head, "You won't be allowed to save us Harry, and for that I'm sorry, but this power only lets someone go back as far as their mind will be capable of processing the memories from the previous timeline. You as a one year old or less trying to warn us will only make us think you're sick or something and we'd ignore it anyway while getting countless healers to check you over."

Sera nodded. "If you choose to go back Harry, you will end up in your 10 year old body, the summer you got your first Hogwarts letter. What you do with your knowledge at that point is where the divergence will begin, I suggest getting to Gringotts alone and taking care of House Potter details without Hagrid or Fumblemore," James grinned at that as though it was his idea, "pulling the strings, and for God's sake don't ignore your soul mate this time. I'm not saying make James and Lilly grandparents the first moment you're biologically capable, but if you listen to my advice, you'll learn a few things you should have been told sooner and will have a chance to use that knowledge. There's one hitch, since Riddle's spirit has been fully claimed by death he's been like Fluffy with a chew toy, he's not letting go of him so we can't give u back the soul fragment you had. You'll still have to hunt down the horcruxes like last time, just one less. The closest we can do is a link to his magical signature, all the effects, none of the possession. The only problem with it is you don't get the get out of death free card like last time. If you want, or feel you need it, you'll have to collect the Hallows again"

"So my options are that, and thin out the crowd here as much as I can along the way, or stay put where I've felt like I wanted to be for months and let the world be?" Harry couldn't help but frown, his "saving people thing" was going off full force, all but taking the choice from him, James and Lilly chuckling at his dilemma. "Alright, I'll go back." Lilly nearly crushed him again, James hugging both of them, Lilly whispering softly, "I know how tough that choice was, and also how easy, you got that from me, sorry." She grinned and kisses his head, letting him go as James ruffled his hair. "Long as you follow what Sera tells you Pronglet, things will only be better for you, promise."

A stack of parchments appears on Sera's desk and she pushed the lot toward Harry. "These are all the standard rebirth forms, modified so that you'll go back to yourself and not a new baby body, as well as retaining all your memories and abilities. You _have to remember_ just because you know seventh year spells; you're still going to have the core of an 11 year old, no matter how powerful. Sign where the Xs are and we'll get everything sorted to send you back." Harry looked over it as he signed, amazed at how much it looked like a normal contract, he was almost expecting something more...until the first flash as he signed his name, the power of the contract rebounding up his arm to his chest.

When the last parchment disappeared, a golden orb...no a ghost of a snitch appears hovering over the desk. James patted Harry's shoulder while Lilly got in one last bone crushing hug. "We love you sweetheart, we were proud of you before, are now and will be with however this goes, just do your best and we'll be here when you're _supposed _to be here and not a minute sooner mister, you deserve the long happy life they have set up." She kisses his forehead and lets him go. Kissing her cheek and with a smirk cockier than James or Sirius had ever been able to pull off, he turned to Sera and nodded. "Thanks for the last chance; I'll try not to be a bother." She smiled fondly at him with a small nod and he caught the snitch and disappeared in a flash of golden light. When it faded all three of them sighed and said, "Good Luck Harry."


End file.
